That statement is true in a good
economy or a bad one, if you are the one that things
are tough for!
When you’re having a tough time
with money, you’re especially vulnerable to unscrupulous
people who promise you instant relief. Those people know
that. They can’t wait to take advantage of the fact that
you are feeling “up against the wall” because you’re not
making the money you really need, or because you just
got laid off, etc.
You’re going to see lots of advertising
on the Internet, on TV, in magazines, etc., that tells you
that you can miraculously get out from under all your bills
by starting your own Internet Business. All you need to do,
they say, is send them a few dollars, and they will take care
of the rest. You can have an instant ‘business in a box’ that
will save you from the bill collectors, the creditors, the
landlord, and generally make life wonderful in a matter
of weeks.
There are a lot of people who use their
last few dollars to buy into these fantasies, and end up
even deeper in debt than they were before, with nothing to
show for it. Please don’t let yourself be one of
those people!
Our company is called Common Sense Internet,
Inc., for a reason. I’m here to talk to you about using common
sense when you see these ‘deals of a lifetime’, and when you
think about starting a Home-based Business.
The truth is that Home-based Internet
Businesses can and do work, if you start them the right way.
They can work very well. There is a great deal of money to be
made out here on the Internet; the stories really are true!
It’s just that it doesn’t happen overnight, and it does NOT
come in a box for a low, low price.
So:
Don’t use this month’s Electric Bill
money to buy into an ‘Instant Internet Business’, figuring
that you’ll make the money back by the time the bill is due.
Don’t spend the last few dollars of your
savings to start a business of any kind, hoping that by the
time you need that savings to help pay the rent, you’ll make
enough money in your business to cover it. It doesn’t happen
that way.
Don’t start a Home-based Internet business
as a "last resort" if you are out of work, and unsure about
where your money is coming from. You’re going to need
whatever money you have available, to pay the bills! A
business should always be started from a position of
strength. Work on getting back to work first, then
look into your business plans.
Okay, how do you know whether you’re
in a position of strength, or whether you need to
wait a while?
The key here is budgeting and planning.
I know those are ugly words to a lot of people! Budgeting
and Planning sound like a tremendous amount of work, and
most people don’t even know where to start.
It’s especially frustrating when you’re
excited about starting a business. You may have just seen a
TV Infomercial that promises to “change your life” in a matter
of weeks, with “foolproof secrets of the Internet Pros!”.
Maybe you recently attended an Internet Business seminar that
got you all pumped up about spending money you really can’t
afford right now.
The real problem with those ‘business in
a box’ deals, from a money perspective, is that they NEVER
cost what they say they do. They ALWAYS cost a lot more.
They may snare you with an easy entry fee of $39.95, for example.
I can promise you that within a week or so of your signing up,
you’re going to be getting emails and phone calls from them. They’ll
tell you that you need to spend hundreds more on upgrades in order
to really get your business going. After they get you to write that
check or put that amount on your credit card, they’ll call again,
and tell you that you need to spend thousands more to take their ‘
coaching sessions’ so that you can be “really successful”.
It won’t end there. Those easy-money businesses
are designed to make easy money for them, not for you. Their single
goal is to slowly chip away at your bank account and credit cards
until you have nothing left. Then they will abandon you, and
you’ll be left with a big hole in your bank account, and a ‘business’
that doesn’t work.
Hit the brakes! Just for a couple of hours,
that’s all. Just enough time to put together a simple Home Budget
that will tell you what you can afford to do, and when. If you
find that you have enough extra money to do things the right way,
great. Go for it. If you find that you don’t, that doesn’t mean
that you have to give it up! You can still get started; you just
take smaller steps at first. You’ll still be starting your business,
and you’ll still get where you want to be. It might take a little longer,
but it won’t hurt you financially.
That’s what I mean by Common Sense. We all have
common sense; sometimes we just need to be reminded to use it!
Putting together a simple Home Budget is really
not that hard.
What you need to do is collect your monthly bills,
your checkbook, and your pay stubs for the last three months. You don’t
even have to have all that paperwork in your hands, as long as you
know what those numbers are.
For example, you pretty much know how much
money you’re taking home every week in your paycheck. If it’s
the same amount all the time, you don’t need to drag out those
pay stubs, right? (Fact is, most people don’t even save them!)
There are always going to be bills that are
the same every month. Your Rent or Mortgage payment is a good
example of that. You don’t need that paperwork in your hands if
you know what that amount will be.
However, other bills will change a bit over
time. Your Electric bill may go up or down with the seasons.
Your phone bill might be fairly steady, but it will change a
bit from month to month. What you’re going to do when you create
a simple Home Budget is figure out a “three month average” of
your expenses. That gives you much better numbers to work with
when you decide how much you can afford to spend to get your
Home-based Internet Business started, and how much you can
afford to spend to keep it running while it builds up.
To create a simple Home Budget:
Make a list of your monthly bills and
expenses (Don’t forget to add the money you spend for
food, clothing, gas and entertainment!)
Average them over three months (Add up
three months of expenses, then divide that number by 3)
Subtract that total from your total
monthly take-home pay
What you’ll have left after running those
numbers is called Disposable Income. That’s money that you
can do with whatever you like, and it won’t stop you from
paying the bills or clothing the kids!
How much Disposable Income do you need to
start a Home-based Internet Business?
Well, if you do things the right way,
and don’t fall for the ‘biz in a box’ fantasies, you can
use these numbers to give you a rough idea:
It’ll cost anywhere from about $150 to
$600 to actually start your business, depending on the
State you live in. Different States have different fees
for filing business papers, etc. That estimate includes
your business paperwork, your business bank account, a
merchant account (so that you can collect credit card
payments from your customers), your web site’s Domain
Name, your Internet Store, and pretty much everything
else you need to actually put yourself on the Internet
as a Retail Business.
Figure on spending about $150 a month
to keep the business running at a minimum level while you
work to build it up. Bear in mind that it may take three
months, six months, or even a year before you start making
reasonable profits from your business.
If your simple Home Budget leaves you
room to spend that money, there’s no reason why you can’t
get started right away. If it doesn’t, look at the individual
things you can afford to do now. Buy a Domain Name for $15.
Start researching the products you want to sell. File
your business paperwork, and hold it until you can open
a business bank account. There’s no reason not to get
started even if your budget is limited; your Home Budget
will tell you how fast or slow you should move your
plans along.
I’ve talked a lot about doing things
the right way. On our web site, you’ll find all kinds of
information that will help you avoid the fantasies and
scams and use services and methods that really will help
you make things work on a budget.
Remember to treat your new Home Ebiz
as a sideline for a while. Don’t expect it to replace
your income right away. If you plan for your expenses
and do things right, you’ll end up with a solid business
that will take care of you for a lifetime, instead of a
flash-in-the-pan that will peter out in a few months and
take your savings with it!
Once again, you’ll find more free
detailed information on many other things you’ll need,
on our web site and in my Free EBook; "Starting Your
Internet Business Right!". There are no fees for this
information; it’s all free.
